Man accused of plotting to kill lawyer believed he was Jesus, court hears

A man accused of plotting to kill a lawyer claimed he suffered delusions that he was “evil Jesus” and believed the murder would expose organised crime, a court heard.

Martin Ready, 41, denies charges of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty, 37, between May 29 2021 and September 15 2022 by setting up cryptocurrency accounts, using a site on the dark web, paying £5,071.24 in Bitcoin, and instructing Mr Harty be shot and where he could be found.

Ready has lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The men knew each other from a pub in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, owned by Mr Harty’s family, the court heard.

Giving evidence, Ready said he was the victim of an alleged abduction in 2020, claiming a named family was responsible. He said he had sold drugs for them between 2007 and 2010 while studying law.

He alleged the pub was a “front for money washing”, and said he believed he had been “jagged with a canine GPS tracker” by his own brother, and had been given an X-ray of his right arm which found no evidence of this, the court heard.

Ready was treated in a psychiatric ward in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, for about three weeks following the alleged abduction attempt and told the court he did not take prescribed medication.

He said he experienced delusions that he was Jesus in autumn 2021 and, by January 2022, believed he was “evil Jesus”.

Ready said he chose Mr Harty due to his connection with the pub, rather than due to personal issues.

Defending, Brian McConnachie KC, said: “From your point of view, what would that achieve?”

Ready said: “I felt that if Darren had been killed it would turn on his links to organised crime.”

He told the court he believed bed bugs had been poured through his letterbox by a named family, and were “streaming down the walls”.

He said: “Back when I was working for these people, I’d heard from a few different sources that they were involved in producing snuff videos of people being tortured and killed.”

A message he wrote on Facebook was shown to the court, which said: “I have a chip in my arm and my brother jagged me with a canine GPS tracker.”

He told the court: “They X-rayed my right arm, there was nothing there.”

Another message shared with the court said: “Me and my dad are getting on OK, he still thinks I’m paranoid.”

Messages from October 2021 showed that Ready confided in a friend he was experiencing “stigmata”, and wrote: “My back is louping now from carrying the cross.”

He sent a message to a friend on Christmas Day 2021 saying: “Merry Christmas from Jesus – the actual Jesus.”

He told the court: “Part of the delusion I suffered in 2021 was I thought my soul had left my body and Jesus’ soul was inhabiting me.”

Another message sent to a friend said: “I am evil Jesus and you are Mary Magdalene.”

Ready said he suffered a psychiatric episode in January 2022 and had a “fragmented memory of a conversation with a girl in 2019 where I disclosed to her that the pub was a front for washing money”, the court heard.

He added: “I’d been running about thinking I was Jesus in October 2021 I’d been talking about how I was going to expose them.”

Ready claimed that being incarcerated in HMP Barlinnie after he was arrested in September 2022 had benefitted his mental health as it got him out of Coatbridge.

Prosecutor Erin Campbell told Ready that his claim that he believed he was Jesus was a “running joke”, the court heard.

She read a message exchange to the court and said: “That’s a fairly normal conversation given you were delusional.

“Can I suggest that you thinking you were Jesus was a running joke?”

Ready said: “No.”

He said: “At the time, I genuinely believed I was Jesus and that the actions I took were to expose the criminality I had been subjected to.”

Ms Campbell said: “At the time you were on (the dark web) you took steps to conceal your identity. You arranged a third party to do it. You considered issues such as alibi and a point with few witnesses which was not covered by CCTV. You knew you were asking for someone to be murdered.

“Murder is illegal.”

Ready said: “I knew murder is illegal, that is correct. At the time I was genuinely delusional and believed this was the right course of action.”

The trial continues.